


An Old Fool

by Ydnam



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-01
Updated: 2013-02-01
Packaged: 2017-11-27 18:12:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/664959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ydnam/pseuds/Ydnam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gold gets some much needed advice from his bartender at Granny's.</p>
<p>Set some vague time post 2x12 "In The Name of the Brother"</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Old Fool

“Gold.”

He flinches. There is no one else in the diner and he clearly wasn’t expecting to have to make conversation after his initial order.

“Go away,” he says, picking up his glass and downing the rest of the scotch. 

“I own the place,” Granny says. She’s not moving from her spot on the other side of the counter.

“I’m fairly certain I own the building,” he retorts. 

“Even so,” the widow Lucas says, “I still own the diner and I can send you packing if I wish, rent hikes be damned. Care to tell me why you’re trying to pickle yourself with my best scotch?”

“No.” He says nothing else, just waves his glass in a commanding fashion.

“You get more when I get an answer.”

He looks up at her then. She expects his gaze to be bleary but it’s clear. Clear and full of more pain than she thought the old wizard capable of.

“If I wanted to chat about my troubles, Mrs. Lucas, I would call on the cricket.”

“Bartenders are cheaper than therapists,” Granny says. “Even they way you drink.”

He barks out a humorless laugh. “Money is hardly the issue, dearie. You know that.”

“I do,” she allows. “I also know you could be drinking something even costlier in that pink monstrosity you call a home but you’re not. You’re here. Spill.”

His lips quirk for a fraction of a second, no more, but she knows she has him now. She pulls the bottle from the shelf and waves it enticingly. 

He sighs at her and motions with the glass once more. “Belle.”

“Any fool could see that,” Granny huffs but she pours for him anyway.

“Quite,” he agrees and there is something of his old self in eyes for a moment. Good. A maudlin Dark One was more than she could bear.

“No luck then?” she asks. She knows the answer but she also knows she’s spent 28 years as a sometime-bartender in this town and asking these sorts of questions was the majority of the job description.

“I frightened her,” he says before another swig from his glass.

“That girl adores you,” she says firmly. “The gods themselves only know why, but she does.”

“Not anymore. She flinches when I come in the room.”

“Stop feeling sorry for yourself,” she snaps. His head jerks up and he is ready to snarl back at her but she cuts him off. “It’s not about you now. It’s about her. You remember that. She’s the one that lost herself and needs finding. You’re still on your feet. Get that twisty little brain of yours working properly again and figure out how to help her. For her sake. Not for yours.”

“It’s all been for her sake,” he snaps. 

“Has it?”

He glares daggers at her and wordlessly finishes the glass before slamming it down on the counter. The glass is followed by a large enough bill to make her raise her eyebrows but he’s off his stool and limping his way toward the door before she can even think of making change. 

He mutters as he walks and she nods approvingly.. He may have forgotten how well she can hear or perhaps he meant the words for her ears as well as his own. 

“Of course you’re a fool,” she calls out as he opens the door. “You’re in love.”


End file.
